RESIDENTS will have to put their hands in their pocket in order to get high-quality broadband.

Two decades ago, residents in Welshwood Park turned down the chance to have cables laid in the area to boost internet speed.

But now, 20 years later, fresh efforts are being made by residents amid fears low broadband speeds are affecting their property prices.

Peter Halliday, chairman of the Welshwood Park Residents Association, said: “I get the impression they didn’t want the street dug up 20 years ago, but they didn’t realise how important broadband would be.

“Now we are having to look at other options.

He added: “I believe the national trend is 20 per cent of a house price is down to its broadband speed these days. We get a very low speed.”

Welshwood residents can get a maximum of 2.1mb/sec, while parts of the borough boast up to 20mb/sec.

Residents have asked Essex County Council if it would fund or part-fund the work needed to boost speeds, but it has indicated it would not be able to.

They have now spoken to BT and rural broadband provider County Broadband and options, such as wireless internet, have been put forward.

Any work would have to be funded by homeowners, who are also exploring having for the roads dug up and having a special booster box laid.

It is not known how much it could cost each person.

Comments (24)

20% of a house price?! Nowhere near that much. Assume that statistic is being put out by fibre sellers like Virgin. We moved recently and asking prices in Welshwood Park looked absolutely bonkers compared to Highwoods and St John's (bearing in mind the nearby schools and amenities). Might have more to do with it if they're having trouble selling their houses?

20% of a house price?! Nowhere near that much. Assume that statistic is being put out by fibre sellers like Virgin. We moved recently and asking prices in Welshwood Park looked absolutely bonkers compared to Highwoods and St John's (bearing in mind the nearby schools and amenities). Might have more to do with it if they're having trouble selling their houses?pinkteapot

I would have though the proximity to Greenstead would have had more of an effect on house prices there, rather than broadband speed! 20% seems rather a lot for a basic amenity, I get 68Mb/sec from BT and I have not had the road/path or street dug up to get, just filled out an online form.

I would have though the proximity to Greenstead would have had more of an effect on house prices there, rather than broadband speed! 20% seems rather a lot for a basic amenity, I get 68Mb/sec from BT and I have not had the road/path or street dug up to get, just filled out an online form.Catchedicam

Smouldering Ewok wrote:
I'm pretty sure no provider was offering fibre optic cable 20 years ago so, the chances are they would still need to be upgraded today.

Is it about 20 years I know someone who was doing it at the time. It was put in for cable TV. Amazing how fast time flies.

[quote][p][bold]Smouldering Ewok[/bold] wrote:
I'm pretty sure no provider was offering fibre optic cable 20 years ago so, the chances are they would still need to be upgraded today.[/p][/quote]Is it about 20 years I know someone who was doing it at the time. It was put in for cable TV. Amazing how fast time flies.Oliver Guiness

Catchedicam wrote:
I would have though the proximity to Greenstead would have had more of an effect on house prices there, rather than broadband speed! 20% seems rather a lot for a basic amenity, I get 68Mb/sec from BT and I have not had the road/path or street dug up to get, just filled out an online form.

That'd be because the infrastructure was already there when you filled in the form, to be fair. At some point the roads were torn up (except in some areas where access is possible without tearing the roads up) to lay down the fibres so that connection from the cabinet was possible without having to tear up the road for each house.
I guess the 20% thing could be accurate. The internet is, after all, becoming more and more important and high speeds are necessary for more. I wouldn't have been able to do the amount of work I did this week without my 30mbps upload speed, for example, which would make living in any of those houses with their slow speeds massively impractical. It'd be like buying a house where the electricity provider could only provide you with enough electricity to run one appliance at once over the cable.

[quote][p][bold]Catchedicam[/bold] wrote:
I would have though the proximity to Greenstead would have had more of an effect on house prices there, rather than broadband speed! 20% seems rather a lot for a basic amenity, I get 68Mb/sec from BT and I have not had the road/path or street dug up to get, just filled out an online form.[/p][/quote]That'd be because the infrastructure was already there when you filled in the form, to be fair. At some point the roads were torn up (except in some areas where access is possible without tearing the roads up) to lay down the fibres so that connection from the cabinet was possible without having to tear up the road for each house.
I guess the 20% thing could be accurate. The internet is, after all, becoming more and more important and high speeds are necessary for more. I wouldn't have been able to do the amount of work I did this week without my 30mbps upload speed, for example, which would make living in any of those houses with their slow speeds massively impractical. It'd be like buying a house where the electricity provider could only provide you with enough electricity to run one appliance at once over the cable.wormshero

pinkteapot wrote:
There are still PLENTY of people out there who aren't reliant on fibre broadband to run their lives. School catchment is still much more important to most family buyers.

That may be true, but the fact is that it's becoming more and more important and most people are aware of that. It's not even really about fibre; the residents in question get a top speed of 2.1mbps - as more services move to connection based ones that's not going to cut it. Streaming will become impractical. My mum lives in a rural area with a connection of that speed and half the time in peak hours she struggles to get on her email. Fair enough, some people don't care, but I think the generation of people who grew up with the internet (who, let's not forget aren't really that young now) will be demanding good infrastructure as one of their priorities.

[quote][p][bold]pinkteapot[/bold] wrote:
There are still PLENTY of people out there who aren't reliant on fibre broadband to run their lives. School catchment is still much more important to most family buyers.[/p][/quote]That may be true, but the fact is that it's becoming more and more important and most people are aware of that. It's not even really about fibre; the residents in question get a top speed of 2.1mbps - as more services move to connection based ones that's not going to cut it. Streaming will become impractical. My mum lives in a rural area with a connection of that speed and half the time in peak hours she struggles to get on her email. Fair enough, some people don't care, but I think the generation of people who grew up with the internet (who, let's not forget aren't really that young now) will be demanding good infrastructure as one of their priorities.wormshero

Mistley 100mb/s...with Orange.......but Hey .....Weshwood Park residents......you are not short of a bob or two are you ?? Your houses are worth more than some peoples lifetime of wages ! If you want internet access...pay for it....or just stop whining !! Sell the Merc / BMW !! ...Colchesters biggest SNOBS !! Best get a pay as you go dongle !!

Mistley 100mb/s...with Orange.......but Hey .....Weshwood Park residents......you are not short of a bob or two are you ?? Your houses are worth more than some peoples lifetime of wages ! If you want internet access...pay for it....or just stop whining !! Sell the Merc / BMW !! ...Colchesters biggest SNOBS !! Best get a pay as you go dongle !!SOMETHING2SAY

Greedy snobbish so and so's, they want their cake an eat it.
There are areas all over the shop in 1.5MB run by exchanges 5 miles away and of course, this lot click their fingers and guess what?
Oh well the home of the well heeled and the wannabe Bilderbergs, will always win.
There is one of them living down there in a sub £1 Million pound house, so tight with their money even with their own 30 something children, the person bums money off my 80 year old mother, because their own parents wont look after them and my mum lives in an RTB Former Council House.
These people sicken me, my dad called them all kippers and curtains, beans on toast. They live on next to nothing just to put on a show, obviously at everyone else's expense. AVPG :-(

Greedy snobbish so and so's, they want their cake an eat it.
There are areas all over the shop in 1.5MB run by exchanges 5 miles away and of course, this lot click their fingers and guess what?
Oh well the home of the well heeled and the wannabe Bilderbergs, will always win.
There is one of them living down there in a sub £1 Million pound house, so tight with their money even with their own 30 something children, the person bums money off my 80 year old mother, because their own parents wont look after them and my mum lives in an RTB Former Council House.
These people sicken me, my dad called them all kippers and curtains, beans on toast. They live on next to nothing just to put on a show, obviously at everyone else's expense. AVPG :-(A Very Private Gentleman

I live in Stanway and take both broadband services (for Business and Leisure). BT from Birch Exchange for business is 2Mb per second if you're lucky with no published plans for an upgrade. Virgin Cable 130Mb per second and no hang time for streaming audio or video downloads, brilliant. I know where my money goes when I retire.

I live in Stanway and take both broadband services (for Business and Leisure). BT from Birch Exchange for business is 2Mb per second if you're lucky with no published plans for an upgrade. Virgin Cable 130Mb per second and no hang time for streaming audio or video downloads, brilliant. I know where my money goes when I retire.Green Moggy

Green Moggy wrote:
I live in Stanway and take both broadband services (for Business and Leisure). BT from Birch Exchange for business is 2Mb per second if you're lucky with no published plans for an upgrade. Virgin Cable 130Mb per second and no hang time for streaming audio or video downloads, brilliant. I know where my money goes when I retire.

The Birch exchange originally promised an upgrade to ADSL 2 on the 29th of January 2014, this did not happen. BT then changed the wording to planned proposed form actual. The new residents at Lakelands and in the former pit bowl behind Comet, will be pulling their hair out.
AVPG :-(

[quote][p][bold]Green Moggy[/bold] wrote:
I live in Stanway and take both broadband services (for Business and Leisure). BT from Birch Exchange for business is 2Mb per second if you're lucky with no published plans for an upgrade. Virgin Cable 130Mb per second and no hang time for streaming audio or video downloads, brilliant. I know where my money goes when I retire.[/p][/quote]The Birch exchange originally promised an upgrade to ADSL 2 on the 29th of January 2014, this did not happen. BT then changed the wording to planned proposed form actual. The new residents at Lakelands and in the former pit bowl behind Comet, will be pulling their hair out.
AVPG :-(A Very Private Gentleman

Use Morse code, or better still, two tin cans with a piece of string between them.That's what all you biddy do gooders did during the war, Women's Institute types.You lot are so well heeled you could pay the £20,000 for the County Broadband Air Service Transformer to be fitted. Sod off sponging off the poor and working class in the town. Our hearts are bleeding for you.

Use Morse code, or better still, two tin cans with a piece of string between them.That's what all you biddy do gooders did during the war, Women's Institute types.You lot are so well heeled you could pay the £20,000 for the County Broadband Air Service Transformer to be fitted. Sod off sponging off the poor and working class in the town. Our hearts are bleeding for you.Rhinestone Cowboy*

Catchedicam wrote:
I would have though the proximity to Greenstead would have had more of an effect on house prices there, rather than broadband speed! 20% seems rather a lot for a basic amenity, I get 68Mb/sec from BT and I have not had the road/path or street dug up to get, just filled out an online form.

The proximiity to Greenstead has never had any effect on house prices in Welshwood Park or any other nearby developments. Greenstead has existed since before the year 1066. If developers had thought they would not sell
their properties clsoe to Greenstead then maybe developments such as Welshwood Park would never have been built.

[quote][p][bold]Catchedicam[/bold] wrote:
I would have though the proximity to Greenstead would have had more of an effect on house prices there, rather than broadband speed! 20% seems rather a lot for a basic amenity, I get 68Mb/sec from BT and I have not had the road/path or street dug up to get, just filled out an online form.[/p][/quote]The proximiity to Greenstead has never had any effect on house prices in Welshwood Park or any other nearby developments. Greenstead has existed since before the year 1066. If developers had thought they would not sell
their properties clsoe to Greenstead then maybe developments such as Welshwood Park would never have been built.PROOFREADER

"Residents have asked Essex County Council if it would fund or part-fund the work needed to boost speeds, but it has indicated it would not be able to. "
Well done, ECC, for a change. As long as there is a single pothole, one millimetre deep, anywhere in Essex, you have no business getting involved in domestic internet connections, which are no concern of yours.

"Residents have asked Essex County Council if it would fund or part-fund the work needed to boost speeds, but it has indicated it would not be able to. "
Well done, ECC, for a change. As long as there is a single pothole, one millimetre deep, anywhere in Essex, you have no business getting involved in domestic internet connections, which are no concern of yours.Boris

Boris wrote:
&quot;Residents have asked Essex County Council if it would fund or part-fund the work needed to boost speeds, but it has indicated it would not be able to. "
Well done, ECC, for a change. As long as there is a single pothole, one millimetre deep, anywhere in Essex, you have no business getting involved in domestic internet connections, which are no concern of yours.

This is where you are wrong Boris, The Blue Bloods are after a special fund set up by the government and Ed Vaizey's office, it matches £ for £ with the private sector a funding of around £21 Million, to the county for Fibre Optic Super Fast Broadband. They have done their homework and also have got the tap from their Tory Chums. They have got to be stopped, their stating that they are loosing up to £200,000 per house in selling prospects. Big deal.

[quote][p][bold]Boris[/bold] wrote:
"Residents have asked Essex County Council if it would fund or part-fund the work needed to boost speeds, but it has indicated it would not be able to. "
Well done, ECC, for a change. As long as there is a single pothole, one millimetre deep, anywhere in Essex, you have no business getting involved in domestic internet connections, which are no concern of yours.[/p][/quote]This is where you are wrong Boris, The Blue Bloods are after a special fund set up by the government and Ed Vaizey's office, it matches £ for £ with the private sector a funding of around £21 Million, to the county for Fibre Optic Super Fast Broadband. They have done their homework and also have got the tap from their Tory Chums. They have got to be stopped, their stating that they are loosing up to £200,000 per house in selling prospects. Big deal.TheBrotherhoodOfTheBell

Love some of the comments on here. Never knew Welshwood Parkers were so popular. Of course there are some snobs but I bet there are in every street. As for the proximity to Greenstead, why should that be a problem? I know people from Greenstead and Welshwood Park and they are ok. Judge people if at all by how much you trust them, how much you enjoy their company and how they behave. If you judge on the houses they live in or the cars they drive, you will always feel bad about yourself unless your name is Ecclestone.

Love some of the comments on here. Never knew Welshwood Parkers were so popular. Of course there are some snobs but I bet there are in every street. As for the proximity to Greenstead, why should that be a problem? I know people from Greenstead and Welshwood Park and they are ok. Judge people if at all by how much you trust them, how much you enjoy their company and how they behave. If you judge on the houses they live in or the cars they drive, you will always feel bad about yourself unless your name is Ecclestone.waclor